Last Saturday, Brian Mann realized something magical was happening when he sat down at the piano at The Grand on State and began playing “You’ve Got a Friend.”
“People were just chatting, and he was just playing it, and then pretty soon everyone’s attention turned,” said Jenna Berg, co-founder of the downtown jazz restaurant. “And everybody started singing, ‘You’ve Got a Friend.’ The whole room was singing.”
Berg and Mann, the married couple who operate the venue together, invite patrons to enjoy live music, a rotating seasonal menu sourcing ingredients from local farmers markets, and most of all, a chance to connect.
The Grand on State has drawn packed crowds since it leased the space in October. But this Thursday, it will celebrate its grand opening, with doors open at 5 p.m. It features a performance from Santa Barbara-based singer-songwriter Lois Mahalia and a surprise guest.
Mann has had an extensive musical career spanning nearly 50 years as a pianist and accordion player. He’s played and recorded with big names like Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald and Larry Carlton. But he truly found a love for jazz while playing at the El Encanto Hotel, before it was bought and sold to new owners.
The saxophonist Colin Richardson, whose day job is teaching regenerative agriculture, will offer a honey tasting at 5 p.m.
Located next to the Granada Theater, The Grand on State offers Santa Barbara a taste of New York, Mann said.
The Grand on State isn’t like other spots in town offering live music. The music isn’t background for people to talk over; rather, it’s the main event. The tables surround the stage, blending the line of separation between performers and patrons. Mann said they’re not looking to compete with other spots in town, but to offer something different—a different style and vibe of music, food, and the space itself.
It’s not a contemporary dance space either, Mann said. Rather, it’s intimate and “music-forward,” Berg described, which also means paying to hear the musicians.
Making a living as a musician is difficult these days, especially with the dominance of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Berg believes that to support musicians, you need to pay them a living wage.
That’s why patrons currently pay a cover fee to hear the musicians, but Berg said they’re still experimenting with pricing.
To their surprise, Berg and Mann have seen an overwhelming amount of support from the community. While most of their patrons have skewed older so far, they’ve also seen a handful of young people pour in, especially at later hours.
It was especially surprising for Mann, who described jazz as a once almost defunct genre. Growing up in the 1960s, he used to listen to jazz greats like Miles Davis. That was, until the British invasion, and suddenly the only people who listened to jazz were his parents and people of the same age. The Beatles and rock music dominated the charts and thus, an economy driven by youth culture. For today’s youth, Mann said, it’s rap music that dominates.
But he thinks young people are rediscovering jazz because it’s human.
“It’s so human because it’s not canned, it’s not AI, it’s not samples and borrowed music,” Mann said. “It’s all improvised. It’s all in the moment.”
And that perhaps contributes to the “magical” quality that Mann and Berg described. People can unwind and sink into the brightly colored love seats without feeling rushed to leave. Sometimes, the music stays up late with them. But that’s the point, Mann said. “Jazz stays up late,” its website reads.
It’s also an escape from phones and algorithmic feeds.
“If younger generations stay on their phones, we’re not going to be healthy people,” Mann said. “That’s part of what this offers—real experiences. We’re not separate. The music and the people are circular. We interact, joke around, and people are close enough, they can feel us.”
Recently, the Grand on State hosted the UC Santa Barbara jazz band, and they plan to host other local youth groups from schools like Santa Barbara City College. It’s not just to give them a stage, but also to mentor and support them.
Though Berg’s professional experience is in business, she has a true affinity for musicians. She got the idea to open The Grand on State just to give Mann a “nice place to play.”
“It was really Jenna’s dream,” Mann said. “I thought it was crazy and it would never work…and she’s a dreamer and a doer. We made it work somehow.”
The pair are the ideal business partnership: Berg knows business, and Mann knows music.
Mann has so far overseen booking acts while also performing with the house band. Mann has started out with recruiting musicians he’s played with or knows personally, but there are plans to expand his reach.
Berg, meanwhile, has gotten more involved with what happens on State Street. She’s gotten to know its businesses and owners, and when she stumbled upon the space next to the Granada Theater—the fourth location she’d looked at—she knew it was the one.
“It came just from Jenna dreaming about something,” Mann said.
They’ve already acquired a batch of regulars, even before it’s officially opened. And the feedback has just been “over the top,” the couple described.
The same night as the performance of “You’ve Got a Friend”, a couple approached Berg and Mann as they were about to leave.
“They had both been traveling and they hadn’t had a chance to reconnect,” Berg described. “On the way out, they said, ‘you know what? We haven’t been that close in so long,’ as they sang to each other.”
Berg and Mann invite everyone to officially experience the magic at The Grand on State Street beginning Thursday. Reserved seating for the grand opening is $35 per person and general admission is $25.
The Grand on State will be open evenings on Thursday through Sunday serving dinner, dessert, wine and live jazz.
